Curtiss Brook Connector Work Continues

We got lucky and were able to squeeze in a "dry" work party before the Nor'easter hits tomorrow.  Volunteers met at Pine Lake on Route 108 to continue work on the Curtiss Brook Connector.  The Connector is a short, new trail that connects the RecPath trailhead with Rt. 108 going east toward downtown Shelton.  It gives people, mostly high school students, a safer option to walking along Rt. 108., where there's no sidewalk and a very narrow road shoulder.

There was a brief prep talk about today's tasks.  One group was cutting brush on the east end, another was expanding benching in the side of the hill along Rt. 108, and others were cutting things or clearing up trash.  

Sad to say, there is a lot, Lot, LOT of trash below this busy Rt. 108 roadside where the trail is going.  There was a work party here earlier in the year that collected a lot of debris, and it only seems to have grown more since then, along with all the new brush.

Mike Flament always wanted to work on a chain gang.  Today he got his chance.  The trail route is a steep hillside, and we need to bench the trails in with pick mattocks, trail adzes, and Rouge Hoes.  It is anything but easy work.  We were debating various songs about chain gangs why we were digging.  I went to Chrissie Hynde & The Pretenders, while Mike went straight to Sam Cook.  All we needed was to break into song.

 

Kiera, Kenny, Luis, Ellen & Bill were working up ahead cutting brush out to Rt. 108.  It's amazing how things grew since our last work party here in the spring.  Hopefully somebody else got pictures.

Here's Teresa & Mike on one of the improved sections near the end of the work party.  The trail has to get dug in on the uphill side and leveled out on the downhill side.  The trick is to make something that is stable, drains well, doesn't erode, fits in the landscape, and is sustainable over the long-term.  That's all, piece of cake.  It takes a lot of hard work sometimes to make a decent hiking trail.

Ellen and Mike bringing up yet another bag of trash along Shelton Ave. at the end of the work party.  Ellen thinks she found the first bottle of Ballantine Ale that George Washington threw out of his carriage while passing thru Shelton.  If this picture looks busy to you, you should see how tight it is further down the road.  That's why we need an access trail off the road here.

Note to Treasure Hunters:  There may be a lot of priceless antiques along this section of trail.  Feel free to go in and pick up all the stuff that you find.  Make sure that you have your tetanus shots.  Thank you Mike for taking all the junk down to the Transfer Station after the work party.

A more finished section of trail benched into the hillside. 

We didn't get pictures of everybody working hard but thank you Kiera, Kenny, Luis, Ellen, Bill, Mike, Teresa, and Terry for all your work.  We got a lot done today.  More work is needed to make this a good trail, but we want to improve pedestrian safety to the Pine Lake Trailhead.  

 A lot of high school students and other folks walk along the narrow shoulders of Rt. 108, and it's not safe.  In the longer term it would be great if the State and City added a sidewalk and shoulder here, but the trails volunteers are trying to get this pilot trail in for now.  Additional work parties are planned - stay tuned.